Well, the OTHER Trojans gave the Dawgs a little bit of a run for a few quarters there. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone who is surprised by that. Everything I've read basically says "after the win versus Florida, how much more could you expect?" Well, I wish we would've put it away early like Auburn did in their game, and then took the rest of the three quarters off, but Troy ain't Tennessee Tech.

Against a very good offense such as Troy's spread, I think the Dawgs held up fairly well. So, let's get to our recap:

What the Stats Say:

Well, basically that we can run this sh*t out of the ball, but we can't defend the spread. Break it down a little further and you have the same type of numbers we're used to having over the past seven years. We converted on all field goals, we had good kick returns, our punting game was solid, our passing game was effective but not flashy, our running game was good, our Defense played well up front, yadda yadda yadda.

Yeah, we gave up tons through the air, but the score doesn't indicate that. IMO this game is really 47 to 24 if we don't fumble deep in our territory (Troy -3), they don't score against our fourth-team players late in the game (Troy -7), and we don't throw the interception in the third quarter (UGA +3 at worst). All I'm saying is that it ain't as bad as it looks on paper. They didn't dominate us.

The Pros:

1. Kno-Mo makes others look like they're in Slow-Mo -- Aside from the fumble, the kid is the hottest thing going right now at UGA and I swear it seems like the O-line just blocks better when they know he'll get the ball. He reminds me of the first kid chosen in every sport when you played in elementary school. You knew that if you had him, you've already got the biggest edge over everyone. I think he's a Heisman candidate next year and maybe the year after, but that's getting ahead of ourselves, right?

The stunned face of #48 is the kind of comedy that just writes itself.

2. The O-line -- Unlike in the effort vs. Ole Miss, the RBs didn't have to create as much in this game. The holes were big and gaping and dying to be ran through, and there were no sacks on Stafford. Great job by this group this week. It also looks like we're finally a healthy unit with some depth...but not much.

3. LB play -- I still cannot say enough about Dannell Ellerbe and Rennie Curran. Curran is a damned ball hawk if I've ever seen one (Does he remind you of Odel Thurman? He does to me), and Dannell has been a steady playmaker all season. Rennie also got himself a sack.

4. Marcus Howard -- How about a kid playing bigger than his body? The undersized DE has used his speed the past two games to create havoc for QBs. In this game, he had a few pressures, a sack, a forced fumble as well as the recovery, and then damn near scored on it. Hopefully he'll keep it up going down the stretch.

Marcus Howard should guest star on Grey's Anatomy as "McNasty."

5. Asher Allen -- He had a big day on Defense with his interception as well as being the team's lead tackler (7 total), but his biggest impact was felt in the return game where he had three returns for 92 yards. I wish he had a little better moves, but as far as following the blocks, he's doing a fine job.

The Cons:

1. Hitting the snooze alarm -- Seriously, about everything we did wrong happened because we just weren't ready for this game. I could say Stafford was off, we didn't take care of the ball, we had a couple of drops, missed assignments on defense, blah blah blah, but I think it all boils down to our guys just not being focused. I can't be too mad about it, though. I'd rather look like sh*t in this game, than for our guys to dominate and get all big-headed about their play going into this week's contest. UGA always plays better when people are saying, "Did you see that game against 'so-and-so'? The Dawgs ain't got a shot if they play like that." We need to be the underdog this week.

2. Secondary play -- This one could technically go under No. 1 above, but honestly our problems here deserve their own category. We constantly leave men wide open and, as The Song Writer pointed out to me, we cannot defend the ball once it's in the air. We can jump routes like crazy and have been doing a way better job of tackling, but man don't expect us to make a Paul Oliver type play to knock a ball loose. It ain't happening.

Overall:

Again, no one was surprised by this game. I could tell by the amount of people in town, the size of the tailgates, and the enthusiasm of the crowd that we were going to sleepwalk a little. The good news is the Dawgs did a fine job of correcting mistakes early and rattled off 17 points in the second quarter to take command. Once they did that, we all kind of felt that things were in hand.

Granted, I wish we could've performed better in the secondary, but now the media can focus on how UGA can't stop a very talented Auburn team and how the away team has really dominated the home team in this old ass rivalry. While all that's going on, hopefully the coaches and players will have some fire underneath them to try and finish the season strong and push towards an SEC Championship appearance.

As much as I'd like to see us be the underdog for the UGA-Auburn game, it ain't gonna happen. Simple stats and rankings will make it so that we will be picked to win, even if we're not picked to win by much.

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